The NCAA: Rock meets Hard Place

One of the NCAA's faves may have run afoul of their antiquated rules: Duke
Lance Thomas went into an NYC jewelry store, bought $97K worth of jewelry, put $30K down, and never paid the rest. Now the jewelry store is suing him.

And the NCAA is stuck because, unless Thomas did this all aboveboard and is just a deadbeat for not paying the bill, they're either going to have to punish Duke, which could mean taking away their 2010 NCAA title, or they're going to have people screaming about favoritism.

One of the NCAA's faves may have run afoul of their antiquated rules: Duke

Lance Thomas went into an NYC jewelry store, bought $97K worth of jewelry, put $30K down, and never paid the rest. Now the jewelry store is suing him.

And the NCAA is stuck because, unless Thomas did this all aboveboard and is just a deadbeat for not paying the bill, they're either going to have to punish Duke, which could mean taking away their 2010 NCAA title, or they're going to have people screaming about favoritism.

I don't think it would be that difficult for Duke to argue that Lance Thomas couldn't have possibly put his professional future down as insurance because Thomas was never an elite prospect. The jeweler could have looked up his earnings potential and realized Thomas was destined to start his career in the NBA Development League, which he did. He could have made more money using his degree from Duke.

Now, that $30,000 down payment either can be explained or is a major violation.

As classy as this sounds, Duke hopes now that Lance Thomas lied about his identity to get the loan and/or the down payment. If he committed but was never charged with a crime, they can keep their shiny things.

One of the NCAA's faves may have run afoul of their antiquated rules: Duke

Lance Thomas went into an NYC jewelry store, bought $97K worth of jewelry, put $30K down, and never paid the rest. Now the jewelry store is suing him.

And the NCAA is stuck because, unless Thomas did this all aboveboard and is just a deadbeat for not paying the bill, they're either going to have to punish Duke, which could mean taking away their 2010 NCAA title, or they're going to have people screaming about favoritism.

When it comes to the NCAA coming down in either Duke or UNC, I will believe it when i see it.

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Butch Davis just kicked Jake_Taylor's dog and knows why.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. If the NCAA dished out punishments with any kind of consistency UNC might be looking at scholarship reductions, multi-year post-season and TV bans and vacated bowl games, Final Fours and NCAA titles for football and men's basketball.

So far, I wouldn't call the punishment thrown at a football team most Tar Heels don't care about coming down on UNC. At least not with any meaningful force.